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Green Onion Pancakes

A popular snack in Chinese cuisine is green onion pancake. They can be found in sit-down Chinese restaurants, dim sum places, on the streets of Taiwan, and even in the freezer aisle at your local Asian supermarket! I must admit that the frozen ones are delicious, sometimes even better than poorly handmade fresh ones I’ve had in the past. During the last year of my San Jose college days, I would snack on the store bought frozen onion pancakes during midterms and finals weeks. It was the quickest most tastiest thing to hold me up until my next real meal. Usually I’m very sharing with my food, but I was never in a giving mood with these things! Whenever I noticed a couple missing, I’d hunt my housemates down and give them the evil eye. Don’t judge me. To me, these little disks of carbs made me so happy! All I had to do was pull one out from the freezer and pan-fry it until both sides were golden brown. Within moments, I’d be starving no more!

These can also be made ahead of time then heated in a well oiled pan when ready to eat. They’re chewy and flakey on the inside and crispy on the outside. They also cost almost nothing to make! Just a little bit of your precious time..

In a medium bowl, add flour and water then mix with fingers just until combined. Cover with a damp towel and set aside for 30 minutes.

Set the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough a couple of times until it’s easier to handle. Roll into a foot-long log then separate into 6 even-sized pieces.

Keeping your surface lightly floured at all times, take each piece and roll out into thin disks. Brush on a thin layer of oil, lightly sprinkle salt, and generously add the green onions on top of each disk. Roll on side of the disk to the opposite side, into a log.

Turn the log so it’s vertical and roll the log from bottom to top.

Turn the dough on it’s side so a spiral appears on the top. Roll it back out into a flat disk. Set aside.

Repeat for the rest of the dough. Stack each disk on top of each other, separating each one with a sheet of parchment paper.

Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a heavy skillet. When the oil is heated, place an onion pancake into the pan and fry until the bottom is golden brown (about 3 minutes). Flip and fry until golden brown. Serve immediately.

If you want to store some in the freezer, simply place the raw onion pancakes into a freezer safe ziplock bag, making sure each pancake is separated from each other with a piece of parchment paper. When you’re ready to eat, simply pan-fry them like above. No need to defrost!